KV Young Professionals hopes to host hoops tourney

Two Kirksville groups will be joining forces this fall and hosting a three-on-three basketball tournament and accompanying festival meant to bring traffic and fun to the downtown area.

Kirksville Downtown Improvement Committee and the Kirksville Young Professionals are collaborating on the planning of a Gus Macker-style basketball tournament tentatively in the A.T. Still University parking lot with a festival atmosphere planned for the downtown on September 15.

KVYP members John Nolan, also a KDIC participant, and Amanda Mills brought the proposal to the downtown improvement group earlier this week to ask for its support in creating a fun downtown environment.

"We want to see a thriving downtown, too," Nolan said.

The KVYP group has committed to coordinating the basketball tournament and KDIC will be responsible for organizing downtown events and activities like music, food vendors, games and other activities to create a side-by-side interaction and environment for the tournament.

"This sounds like a win-win situation," said KDIC President Justin Tallman. "It sounds like your event is pretty well taken care of and it's going to be on KIDC for the festival."

Tallman, expressing support ahead of the Board's unanimous approval of the effort, said he appreciated that KVYP would focus its effort on the downtown area when it could have, and still could, host the event at the YMCA or other open parking lot area.

"The Gus Macker tournaments in the past had shut down the square," Tallman said, referring to lack of support by downtown business owners in the past. "This is meant to bring it to life."

KDIC, still in its tentative first steps as a revamped and reborn group, will also be focusing its efforts on a renewed membership drive and has already begun receiving new members' dues. Tallman said the group had grown with the addition of Sieren's Palace, his own Spark's Cleaners and New Vision Optical, all downtown businesses.

"I've told everyone they should just come and see if this is something they want to be a part of [before they pay dues]," Tallman said.

The group will also be sending out members as ambassadors to go door-to-door in the downtown district with newly-printed flyers to appeal to new prospective members and garner support.